When slandered

F B Meyer. David. ABJURE MORE COMPLETELY THE CARNAL LIFE. Why do we smart under these unkind and slanderous words, which are as baseless as uncharitable? Is it not because we set too high a value upon the favour and applause of men? Is there not a deadly fear of being despised and condemned? Does not the world still live within us, revealing the tenacity of its hold, in this mortification and shame? Is this being crucified to the world, and the world crucified to us ? If we were really nothing, and God were all in all if the Spirit and the Lamb of God were dominant in our inner life ; if we were dead to the flesh, with its affections and lusts, and alive only to God surely it would be a matter of indifference what became of our good name in the lips of foolish and sinful men. Here then there is a revelation of a deeper death to be realized ; let us not flinch from it, but be willing to fall into the ground, and die to our reputation, as Jesus did, who endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself, and of whom they spoke as in league with Beelzebub, the prince of demons. We must choose death in all those forms in which our Master knew it; that having been planted in the like ness of his death, we may be also in the likeness of his resurrection. V. LEAVE GOD TO VINDICATE YOUR GOOD NAME. Any unjust imputation or stigma that rests on us is part of the evil of the world, and a manifestation of its inveterate badness; it is a grief and care to God; it is part of the burden which He is carrying ever; it is impossible for us to cope with or remove it; it is useless to retaliate or revenge. Like Jesus, we may meekly ask the false accuser to establish his untrue charges, or we may meet them with our steadfast denial; but when we have done this, and we shall find it of little avail, there is no more to do but wait patiently till God arise to avenge our wrong and vindicate our characters.

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